Tow companies deny collusion to win contracts

Two local tow companies deny they’re in cahoots to win city contracts, despite having some of the same directors, occasionally using each other’s services and sharing the same insurance policy.

A statement of defence filed by Ottawa Metro Towing and Recovery and Metro Towing and Recovery Group says the companies have different incorporation dates, different addresses and have been operating as separate legal entities.

The defence is in response to a lawsuit filed by competitor Gervais Motors alleging the Metrobranded companies have the same ownership and colluded in a bid-rigging scheme to win City of Ottawa tow contracts. The city is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The allegations haven’t been tested in court.

Ottawa Metro and Metro Towing each have one of the two tow contracts issued by the Ottawa Police Service. Ottawa Metro and Gervais have separate city bylaw contracts to remove illegally parked vehicles.

The joint statement of defence says Ottawa Metro was incorporated as a family-owned business in 1993 and president Wehbe Wehbe has been the “controlling mind” of the company. Metro Towing, also a family-owned business, started in 2004 when Ahmad Wehbe and Hussein Wehbe decided to create their own business, separate from Ottawa Metro.

“As Metro Towing and Ottawa Metro share officers and directors and maintain a franchise arrangement, there are particular aspects of their businesses which are similar and or linked to maximize efficiency and minimize costs,” the Metro statement of defence says.

According to the Metro statement, Gervais has used subcontracted services of the Metro companies and also provided subcontracted services to the companies. The statement of defence also suggests the Metro companies have been open about the family relationship and also a “family relationship between the Metro defendants and the employees of Gervais.”

The Metro companies note that the city looked into Gervais’s previous complaints about collusion and dismissed them. The city hasn’t raised any concerns about the family relationship between the Metro companies and their operations, the statement of defence says.

The City of Ottawa, in its own statement of defence, has also denied the allegations in Gervais’s lawsuit.